Blue Spectral Eagle
by BlackCypress
Summary: Rating for violence and unusual spelling of nonexistant items. A story of a woman and a man in a hell of a time. Leon finds himself running after a mysterious woman in a hardsuit.
1. Rememberance

Chapter One : Remembrance

_"Can I say something?"_

It echoed down the halls and around the corners of the old abandon home, memories of childhood long lost. The darkness of the old decrepit place pulling one into his dead embrace and sharing what it had experienced within its walls. Yet they were hallow memories, as al those it held were dead or gone now. A lonely building in great disrepair, haunted by nothing but shadows of what once was. Both good and bad. 

Laughter and arguments of children from the many little rooms, siblings or friends, darting around in her mind as she passed each, looking in the sullen shells of what was once a home for many vibrant young souls. Some she knew personally, most she didn't, but she could still feel them lurking, still see the flecks of paint and marks left by furniture that once adorned these now hollowed out little rooms. Her soft footsteps totally ignored as she dreamed, passing through the skeleton of wood and metal.

"Remember when we went fishing for minnows, Bro?" She heard a young child giggle and prance in a dance about the porch, a small child welcoming home a brother from vacation or some other event. She couldn't remember that too well. It was these memories, pieced together in this house that held her together. She saw these shadows everywhere, schizophrenia of memories keeping what little of her mind she had left together. Drops of gold within the darkness that kept her from just ending it all. She did have promises to keep after all.

Deeper into the sanctum she once called home. First hers, then another families when she'd grown up and moved away. Sold after a few years of living to another family. Eventually it was a poor house and an orphanage. It had seen a lot of use, a lot of time, wear and tear. It all pulled on her soul, dragging her back into its dark womb, to that once place within the largest room of the house. It remembered how small she'd been and how hard she'd worked to ignore herself for others. But that had been then. Before her real life actually happened. And before the problems came up.

A soft sigh slipped her wordless lips as the memories faded from this room. Even the shadows seemed to be holding their breaths, afraid to lurk here. She knew this room better than the rest, having spent more time here than she'd ever wanted to. Kneeling, brushing her fingers out along the dusty floor until she found the edges, soon outlined the handle. A trap door. Pulling it up, she slipped beneath the creaky old surface, into the world of little bugs, lightless living and spider webs. The air was stale and chilled, un-welcoming to her presence. _"Can I say Something?"_

This time the memory was far more fresh, the voice older and filled with panic instead of the amusement or curiosity of a child. A voice desperate to put up even a moment's delay on the inevitable. It was much later, an memory that was closer to her current life than any of the hidden shadows before. As she shuffled down the stairs and hunched low it the crawl space like area, she dared to let the memories flicker their fingers across her mind. When the house was one of purpose rather than idle dreamers lodging spaces.

She pulled the flower from behind her ear. A small purple thing she didn't remember what it was called if she knew at all. This and a handful of small white glittering stones were her gifts for the darkness. Life and rock form the surface world that someone would never see again. Moving down to her knees by the wall, she lay the stones down in the pile with the rest that she'd been building since 'it happened' and replaced the old dead flower with the new one. She came here on just barely a regular enough basis that she had no need for light anymore. She knew where it all was. Light seemed a sacrilege to this place now anyway.

Reaching out, she touched the wall of an irregular foundation. It hadn't been here when the house was built, but was added within the last few years to support the old floors. Or at least, that's what they had called it. She knew otherwise.

"Hey Kid." Her adult voice, almost alien to her now, shattered the silence as her hands slipped down the slightly irregularly poured cement, until it smoothed over the round cusp of bone. Around the soft grit of concrete first, outlining the familiar forms that hadn't quite been covered by the cement. Tracing the holes, the lies, the cracks and dents. They were all here. All the bones, and the skull. He was in there. 

"I thought I told you these guys were serious. Ahh, but you never listened to me anyway. Youth." She looked down a moment, to where the stones lay after giving him the standard short pep talk, despite the darkness. "Still have the suit. It hasn't degraded all, just like you said. The batteries are still running the same as when you dragged it up to my front porch and insisted I put the damn thing on. It'll probably be around longer than me..."

Her hand dropped down to the pile of stones, finger tips dancing over the surfaces, feeling out the little symbols she'd carefully carved into each surface. What they meant was only for her to know, and since no one knew about this place, no one had to know about it either. "Always did hate to linger." She admitted after a moment, raising her hand again to pat the skull. "Try not to get stomped on by the big guys wherever your spirit is now, Hm?" Finally pulling back and away, returning the way she came.

_"It stopped._..." The soft voice of the house called from behind her, lurking shadows and dreams as she padded out onto the porch and looked out across the night skies and tall weed grasses tousling lightly in the breeze. It was a tough trip to get out here. She did it whenever she felt the need to, but usually waited as log as she could manage since it guzzled up so much power. She didn't get in her suit right away, eyes straining a little to look up at the stars in the dark ocean of sky far above. Full of things she'd never reach. Then down and out over the landscape, to the not-so-distant twinkling lights of the newest form of Tokyo. "Will wonders never cease?"

_"It stopped."_ The house whispered behind her. To what means it meant was only for those who could here it to decide on.

"Right you are. It stopped a long time ago, didn't it." She closed her eyes as she slipped into her suit and pulled it up against and around her. Just setting back as the automatic locks and sealants went about their business, tightening all over her body, everything from securing the helmet and the almost absentminded hum of everything getting online again, to the clutch and tight grasp on her feet, pushing them into the high heeled frames that had bee favored by its creator. The light support settling with a soft his, she released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Breathing naturally as the familiar patterns of her second skin welcomed her into the warm embrace. She wore the suit so much now that nothing mattered as much as the suit did. Molding to her face and snuggling up all over, she felt once more as though she was merely nothing more than the brain within the suit, the real body. The thing out there, fleshy and weak, was just a puppet.

Only when the suit had settle down and done all its work in immersing her into its system once more, did she open her eyes and view the world the way the suit did. Details all refined and statistics of all kinds right where they needed to be. A short look around, slight twist and turn of her blue opalescent head and visor to make sure the place was clear of anything that might try and harm her and she sprang from the ground and up onto the room with incredible ease. Dancing along the spine of the roof gave her a bit of height and a running head start to take a greater leap, boosters in her back flaring sharply with the takeoff and flinging her high into the air. Like a turbo-jetting flea over a dogs back,the countryside moving by in blurs of speed, rising and falling beneath her with an oceans grace until she had thrown herself back into Tokyo's industrial zones.

Far down amongst the tangled streets below, Inspector Leon McNicholl didn't seem to be having a very good day. There'd been rumors of a rouge Knight Saber running around on the streets lately. It had him thrown for a loop. After all, some of the attitude and behavior reported could've had it aligned with another of the Sabers, whom he suspected to be Priss. This new suit and pilot certainly had the loner attitude, but it was suspicious. Not that he really had much else in the way of solid proof to go on though.

Not that it really mattered who this person was. All that mattered was that she was wanted for questioning in some very nasty incidents that left a lot of people hurt. If they were lucky. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he was driving towards the most recent scene, and spoke aloud to himself as his partner was currently absent. "Funny thing, If she's a Knight Saber, Why doesn't se credit the rest of the team?"

On arrival, the scene was a ugly one. 'A real mess' in the simplest terms. Walking up to the location, his shoes crunching sullenly on the glittering, rocky white pathway, he entered the building, and soon ended up on the third floor of the establishment, going over details that were given to him until he needed some air. It had been hard to tell _exactly_ how many bodies she'd left because not many of them were entirely intact. They'd cataloged as much as they could and scraped some things off the wall as evidence. Everything followed procedure, even as he left to consider options and start doing a little gumshoe work of his own with the new information he had.

Shame this all had to happen now. The Knight Sabers were already being attacked enough as it was, this was all just going to make it worse. He was probably one of the few people that realized they were doing some semblance of good for this city. He paused a moment to look up at the stars, brows furrowed. _"I just wish I could find some clue as to what she'd done it for. That'd help track her down faster."_

A moment of thought and he decided to check up on the Boomer production facilities, seeing as that seemed to be their strong suit, after all. He headed back inside to wrap up the final details before he'd head out to the Industrial Quarter in his car. _"Really shouldn't do this on Daily's vacation, but..."_

Back within the industrial complexes, She'd only had one or two things on her mind. Avoiding security personnel, and getting a refill for her dangerously low battery pack. The trip out to the house and back had her almost completely drained. She had to bounce on a few streets before she cold find buildings low enough for her to use as stepping stones to the Boomer factories, where a little energy sluicing likely wouldn't be noticed. She'd done it for enough years to have a pretty good sense on who to hit up for a little juice and the perfect hiding places from both security boomers as well as the personnel. However, she kept her eyes open for security shifts and even random people passing by, as getting sighted would probably do her more harm tan good.

Landing atop a boomer factory, she paused a moment, watching the usual automated security measures make their pass. She'd been using this building just frequently enough that she knew all the shift changes. It was only another minute or two before she was in her hidey hole, suit cracked so she could breathe normally, and cables lined into her back, between her shoulders and just below her neck. 

Just what had she been doing out there, tonight. She had a moment to think when she was up here, above everything and everyone else. Idly watching the soft glow of her battery pack recharging off the power flow from the box she was leaning against, turning over the day's events in her mind. Shaky and unsure as it was. She was pretty sure it was all involved with the boy in the concrete wall. It was hard to tell these days though, as her mind seemed to be so much stitched material now. A few names, a few faces. Urges and emotions she couldn't let go of more than clear memory. 

She was pretty sure she'd only attacked two or three rooms. Or maybe it was four. Or five. Sometimes when she went after a target, she'd lose all her control and take out an entire flat, or remember a slaughter when nothing at all happened. Or remember absolutely nothing after a massacre. Either way, she was positive she had got who she wanted this time, and they were dead. That was all that really mattered.

She pushed the suit open further and pulled her arms out of their protective casings so she could rub her face tiredly. She couldn't remember how long she'd been in the suit today either, days just sort of blended into one another now. Weeks, months, years. She had trouble keeping it straight now. There were holes in her memory as well as her personality. And unlike some people, she preferred it that way. She didn't see the need for therapy or getting fixed at all. Armadillo armor without the 'dillo. 

"Might as well be a damn Boomer myself." She muttered to the breeze. She glanced at the battery readouts and frowned at them, tapping the interface with a fingernail. "Damnit, you should've been able to take more than that. A sigh and she began de-coupling from the energy tap located next to the air ventilation systems and housing, unaware of the car pulling into the nearby lot down below, and the Inspector stepping out with a pair of night binoculars in hand. Scanning the skyline. 

_"I really should've brought at least a K-12 with me. Too late for that I suppose._" Leon lowered his binoculars after the quick s can and frowned as nothing looked unusual. No shadows or flares in the sky or the destruction of anything nearby. His gut feeling wouldn't let him leave just like that however. _"If I could even make first contact tonight, maybe I could talk her out of any more damage."_

Getting back in his vehicle, he flicked on the car's radar and scanners, looking up the signals of the local area, and was just in time to catch the blip and jumps of her movement. She was heading for another building, both due to draining as much as she could from the source as well as getting out of the area before the known security patrols came back. It was all routine by now and her head partially fogged by a jumble of memories as well as trying to get to her next usual junction point.

"Hmm... Well, there's _something_." Leon got out of his car once more and quickly proceeded to the last location he 'spotted' movement from. The ADP badge on his jacket seemed to _dare_ the rent-a-cops to say something to him about his presence. None did however, letting him into the locations he inquired on. Boomers could generally take care of themselves, but there were always a few men posted here and there to keep an eye out for unusual behavior and rouges before they got out into the populace. Everyone who weren't these people loved Boomers. They treated them like crap most the time, but as long as someone else was doing the work, it didn't really matter to most the population. It wasn't until he was on the roof that his search was finally rewarded.

Soft sounds of clicks and clanks, and a low female voice grumbling softly, "Damn, I could go for a smoke."

"Ahh, _there_ you are." He'd moved closer, cautiously, to the source of the sound though he had as of yet to make any real eye contact. "Listen, I don't know if you're Priss in there, or what. I _strongly _recommend you reel in the new member of your team. The homicides last night? Not good. We've left you a free because you've been a big help to us in the past. My superiors will forget about _all_ of that if you keep killing people."

She stopped within her suit at the voice, blinking a moment as she'd been caught with no forewarning, then turned to regard him as he made his little speech, mistaking her for one of those sniveling little brats. Yeah, she was familiar with the Knight Sabers. Very familiar. The one time she'd actually gone to them and groveled for help in the muck, begging for their aide, they'd all found reasons to simply not be around. It was around then she came to a full realization that whoever said life was like a movie and everyone had a happy ending needed to be killed. Ah, wait, she already had killed them.

Her blue opalescent chrome suit tilted its head at him slightly, before triggering scans to check through the nearby areas for life signs or standbys. And yet there was nothing. Only him. No backup or anything. Pushing her head out of the shadow and into the dim lighting up here, just as though to signal him that she'd heard him if nothing more. Now, she'd figured she'd pissed off a lot of people in her lifetime, but frankly, the ADP badge so clearly marked on his chest had her a little surprised. They were the last people she expected to have on her tail. Within her suit, she just smirked, and had a good hearty laugh at his expense, before settling back into the shadow again, resuming with her power storing.

"Yeah, think it's funny if you want. But I'm serious. Confine your attacks to Boomers in the future. I'll do what I can to keep some heat off the Sabers, but another human death, and it's not going to be possible. And I may decide I don't _want_ to help you."

"Don't waste your time." Her emotionless voice replied, crossing her arms as she remained within the shadows. The sword partitions that arched off her forearms coming up in a slightly defensive position if he chose to try and blast her away at any point from here. Her suit had been mostly a custom job, blue-chrome with opal like under features and black interior. Some schematic parts were borrowed from Sylia's armor and a few notes from Priss's suit, but the rest had been a complete custom job. Built for missions of a different time for the most part. "The Knight Sabers can eat my dust for all I care."

"So your _not_ a member of Knight Sabers, then? Who are you, then?" He switched on a small tape recorder. This information could prove useful to him later. "And why did you kill those people last night?"

"Why not?" She said with heavy sarcasm, raising the pitch of her voice, mocking those she had been mistaken as. "The girls have been trying to steal my boyfriend, so I just made sure he'd only be mine." Cheerleader type giggle and she waved one of her arms slightly. "I'm just making the world a better place by killing all the cheating back stabbers! Oh sure, it leaves some widows but they can come over and spend all their money on me! Tee-hee!" End sarcasm. 

He scowled darkly at her for that. "Yeah. It's becoming more and more obvious that you're telling the truth. The Knight Sabers may be 'glory hounds and vigilantes' as some people put it, but at least they're professional. Next time we meet, I'll be better equipped. And I'll see you in jail."

She glared back at him through her suit though he couldn't see it. A flick of a glance to her power levels told her she had half an energy tank. She'd have to hit somewhere else further from here for another rush to fill up, but it was enough for the time being. Returning her gaze to him as he finished his supposedly scathing words, she figured him more as just an every day cop rather than the Investigator branded on his badge. Don't they tend to ask more questions and push for more information?

"Have fun dancing with the ghosts then." She spat after him, a little something to give him nightmares about later. If he'd even see the connection anyway. Doubtful, but she wasn't telling him anything else, so why not lead him off on another false trail. She could see it in his eyes that he was rather ticked off that he hadn't pushed her harder, but enough intelligence to realize she had the upper hand with her suit. He wouldn't be able to physically force anything from her as long as she was in it. Not this time anyway. Much as the temptation to stay there and torment him was, she moved across the roof, preparing to jump off again.

She took a smaller jump, landing on a parking structure next to the building, pausing tot urn around and cross her arms again. Standing there and just mocking his existence. There he was, he'd found her and gotten further than anyone else had. There were more pebbles at that little shrine than she ever remembered, a lot more deaths than she remembered really dealing out. She'd been playing this game for a long time now, and only just recently stopped being discreet about it. Coming to the end of her chain maybe as her sanity continued to deteriorate.

He tilted his head at her stance, then shook his head. Nothing more he could do here today. "At least tell me what I should call you if you're not a Knight Saber. And... What happened? Did they kick you out or something?"

"Segway, Rookie!" She shouted back to him, actually giving the name of the suit rather than her real name. In truth, she believed there was very little of the person in the suit left behind to even be named. Maybe just a homeless straggler without a mind of her own, or maybe she was already dead. An obituary in a newspaper somewhere, burned ashes and dental records in a timeless grave just to be forgotten.

"Rookie?" He rose his brows at her as he pulled his glasses down to look at her. A name he hadn't been called in years, apparently. A good look on him, she decided.

She smirked wider to herself. Like a cat playing with a mouse. She turned and moved to a conjunctioning building, another location where she could jack in. Frankly, she didn't really have anywhere else to go, or pressing matters to attend to and seeing as he was so easy to mess around with. Well, she just settled down at another junction point, keeping aware of the security other than him. Let him holler across buildings or come join her on hers. She didn't have any priorities here. 

A frustrated sound and he called after her in annoyance, face in an almost permanent scowl now. "Well, are you going to _do_ something or are you going to just stand there? My shift is just about over, so if something's going to happen here, I'd like to know."

"I've finished my rounds for the night." She responded with a slight shrug. "Maybe someone else will die tonight. It really depends on where They show up." It could be easily mistaken that she was referring to the Sabers. After all, that's all this officer seemed to be paying attention to, that she was supposed to have some relation to them and couldn't possibly be from a completely different section or unit. Of course, it wasn't much of a unit anymore. Almost all of her unit was dead, killed by the shadows that stalked the streets. Maybe that's what she was now. A ghost like the rest of them. Living a shell of a former life, haunting the world as her unfinished business never seemed to end. Now that's a twist of mind. Could one disbelieve themselves out of existence? 

"You'd better not be responsible." He turned to exit the rooftop and go back to his car, calling back over his shoulder. "I'd say it's been a pleasure, but I'd be lying."

As she watched him leave from her jack in point, there was a slight tug somewhere within her. It almost felt like being violated to be walked away from. Then again she didn't have much reason to cut him down, finding no real meaning in his threats, completely without worry for all his attempts to instill a sense of right and wrong within her shell. Ofcourse, it may have just been due to not really being approached or having conversation with people normally to have it all ripped back just as suddenly as it had st-

Beep.

Her thoughts were canceled as another display was triggered within her sights, informing her of a tag and a memory in the fog. She remembered one of the bastards she'd gone out to end the life of had gotten away and all she'd been able to do was tag his car before he'd peeled off into the night. She had to get rid of the others before him, but now he was on the move again. Three fourths of a battery was good enough. Her target was half way across town and her suit dealt with power better than any Sabers machine did. Leon completely dropped from her thoughts as she took off from the building, heading deeper into the city. 


	2. Metamorphosis

Authors Notes; Still has not been beta-read. Spellchecked the thing due to being unable to read my own story due to them.

---

Joseph Birch, as far as anyone was concerned, was just a normal man, a blue collar worker with a nice window office in a tall building somewhere. He earned his paychecks, he got praise from the boss, and his coworkers generally liked him.

Joseph did, however, work in accounting. He didn't think of himself as an embezzler, he just worked better with round numbers than with partial ones. So he'd gotten the idea to slice off the cents off the bills and payments that came his way, and shunted them into the 'Cent-tennial' account he'd created in his own name.

Now dear old Joseph had been doing this since he'd gotten the position in the firm at a ripe age of nineteen due to excellent grades in classes, and a natural mind for numbers, the lucky sod. He'd been a proud member of the company for just over thirty years and his 'Cent-ennial' account had come with interest. No one really bothered to see how the money was being gathered or how it was collecting.

Furthermore, as years wore on and Joseph bought himself better clothes and a better car, sometimes even offered a better position in the company, people also weren't paying much attention to anything beyond his casual expenses.

At twenty-five, he'd been approached by a small group seeking funds for their nonprofit organization. A school for young orphaned men and women who were still struggling to gain a footing in the world after the earthquakes, virtually forgotten now. It was a noble cause in his mind, and he accepted the proposition. He took a controlling seat in the corporation after four years of success and was introduced to the training programs that had been lain out for the teenagers and young men and women. They were getting very good training on how to live with strangers and look for jobs, even how to house hunt and keep good lives.

There had been so much potential though. In the day of boomers and high technology, there wasn't as much need for grunt work of humans. Most of them would end up in small markets, restocking shelves or trying to sell fresh vegetables or roast cat. Some, however, were smarter than that and started tinkering with things in their surroundings. Some tinkered and played with people, some explored metaphysology and still others tried improving on Boomer design.

Amongst these people was Roskoe He'd been vacationing with his family in Tokyo when the disasters came around and his family had been lost. He'd found solace in machines, but not Boomer kind. It was Roskoe of the Toscali Foundation that had started creating an alternate version of Hardsuits that had started to be rumored of. Knowing nothing more than rumors and the things Joseph told him, he dove into technology textbooks and classes with the mind of a devouring beast. Frequently taking leaps and bounds to create a line of suits that couldn't compare to any others.

And now, Roskoe was dead. Buried in a cement wall with rocks and dying flowers at the bottom of his nameless grave. Now, a hot little barracuda of a red sports car was pulling away from the restaurant, and cruising down the street. Now, Joseph Birch wondered who had one of Roskoe's suits as he'd been positive they were all buried in the concrete with the kid. Now, Briar sped down the concrete using a different battery system for movement, one that powered off the friction of the legs against the hull, giving back almost as much energy as it used.

In a perfect world, Roskoe would have still been alive, maybe ten years younger than her. She would've retired from ADP with a hefty check, bought a house, and spent the rest of her days building and inventing with Roskoe The foundation would've remained and kept helping people instead of going corrupt. In the perfect world, however, the suits would've never come to fruition at all.

Not being the perfect world, things were different. People were dead and people were going to continue to die until there was no more of them left. Maybe it was a romantic goal in someone's eyes. Maybe even a noble one, to try and save future generations from such misery. But when it came down to it, she was making use of her knowledge of the ADP like a criminal. Avoiding the major hubs, even those not well known to the public. Streaking down alleyways or full on down streets, using her booster jumps only when it was necessary

Joseph Birch was a kind and honest man. As long as you did what he told you to do. Some time back, he'd had an 'accident', fell down some stairs and did damage to his leg. It had taken three days to find him and he was off work for a week while they 'made him all better'. The people of the Foundation paid his bills in thanks for all his years of hard work for them. It was a picture perfect little image.

Roskoe had been beaten, thrown out into the city to suffer the population for a few days, since one of his experiments had actually caused the accident. The kid had been rather traumatized by life in general. No picturesque perfection for him. He'd tried to get to the ADP and get word to them what was going on, not just the abuse of the people in the toscali Foundation, but of the machines they were building and selling with 'faulty' parts. It had failed as the Foundation was keeping watch on anywhere he could've possibly gone for help.

Meeting Briar in the bar had been a pure stroke of luck. The woman had been recently retired, but still had some strings she could pull. The few days he was out of the foundation was spent swapping tales and stories of their lives and interests. Casual friendship between a lightly bitter soldier and officer, and a young, bright minded individual. Even after the foundation aloud him to return, he'd make visit to her abode at least once a week.

The second to last time she saw him was when he gave her the Segway. The Sabers had been in full glory around then, which meant Briar's suit could've only been two years old, maybe less, maybe more. Time didn't remain linear when it came to memory anymore.

Briar ignored the lights passing on her left and right, like ghosts of time. Blurs turned to their practice sessions. He'd sent three days there before going back, teaching her how to use it, making changes she requested. It was a working relationship. He'd been overjoyed to find someone so compatible with his creation. She learned fast, Roskoe learned faster. They worked that suit over so many times without sleep, just to make it perfect.

Now Joseph saw the Segway in his rearview mirror. Now Segway was gaining. Now the scream tore from her suit, just to be wrenched away by the air as she moved through it, like a hot knife through warm butter. Into the air, and the car braked. Segway slammed down into the hood of the car as it stopped, missing the intended target by a few feet. The metal crushed and indented inwards as Joseph snapped off his seat belt and scrambled out of the car, screeching in terror as his worst nightmare was becoming a reality.

Segway jerked her legs up out of the holes of the crumpled hood and devastated motor beneath, pausing momentarily as her foot caught on the cables connecting various parts of the motor to itself. Looking up she saw him getting away. The man still had signs of patches and scrapes over his face and body from her missing him early that morning before dawn had broken. It could've been later. It had been dark at the time, that's all that had mattered. Tires of non-target cars squealed and braked as this monster of a hardsuit ran across the streets after Joseph, cutting down civilians that got in the way.

Jumping off the car and running after the man into the crowds, all she could see was the last time she'd seen Roskoe She'd been recalled for one last call of duty, to storm a 'poor house' that had been confirmed to holding illegal weapons and their makers. She'd been called in merely due to knowing the floor plan of the place, having lived there once herself, knowing all its secrets.

She had stood there in her old ADP uniform, held back by the Foundation's men, disguised by names and different faces even as Joseph's men had weighted Roskoe down and tied him to his rouge suits. She remembered the blood, some of it her own, most of it Roskoe's Backup had been late to get to her. The cement was already a smoothed out block by the time they got there and Joseph's men had fled, leaving her defenseless and with two broken legs.

Searing pain washed over her body as her suit reacted to the intense emotions pouring into the neural network that connected her to the suit, secrets of the suit starting to develop as it gave all her hated and rage a new life. She couldn't hear the screams of the people as they watched the nymph-like machine plow through them, its skin bubbling and boiling and turning black as though it were burning from the inside out, leaving only thin trails of molten gold covering over the jumpjets on her back and down her legs.

The suit itself had gone rogue, feeding off her memories, broken dreams and emotions as a second face developed from the head of the suit, tearing itself a new jaw with a scream of metal and pulling the smaller swords from its arms to create a larger one to cut down the people trying to protect its escaping target. There was nothing but pain, hate and a chilling hunger as the machine shrieked and gained ground on Joseph.

Panic saved some people as they pressed back, some would be heroes found their heads separated from their shoulders. This caused more people to back off, and Joseph had to struggle against the crowds that didn't quite yet realize what was going on. Quite a trail of blood was building up the rouge Segway suit, screeching like metal and glass grinding together, the blackness of the suit starting to pulse as if it might burst.

Joseph had almost gotten into an alley when the beast caught up to him, swinging the flat of the sword against his back and knocking him through the last of the civilians and slamming him up against a wall. He scrambled for his glasses as he turned around to face the screams of both people and monster. Giving himself the last sight he'd ever see after his life flashing before his eyes in the car as he'd tried to escape the inevitable. His scream was short lived as the monster armor drove the sword through his body, spinal cord and the weapon sunk into the wall from the force of two armor enhanced arms. There would be no more trouble from Joseph as he'd lost both heart and spine in one blow.

Leon hadn't thought to put a tracer on the hardsuit. She'd said she was making the ends of her rounds, after all. Surely even fake Knight Sabers had to sleep sometime. He'd catch up to her tomorrow. He was driving home when he spotted the armor in pursuit of Joseph's vehicle, on the other side of the freeway. "FUCK!"

Leon spun the car around and gave chase. He'd warned this woman once before, now she was going down. He nabbed the transceiver on his radio, "Headquarters, this is Inspector McNichol. I'm tailing a rogue Hardsuit south down Dolan Avenue. This bitch is causing MASSIVE loss of life, and I'm needing serious back up. This suit appears to be much more powerful than the Knight Sabers, and I can safely say that the design is in NO way similar. Advise a squad of K-12s, at LEAST."

Fortunately the path the chase had left behind allowed him to arrive on sight of the murders relatively quickly, pulling a hard turn to follow off road with his car. Leon sped up towards the armor, grumbling as he raised his three-shot hand cannon that we all know and love. On the car's loudspeaker, he spoke to Briar.

"Stop right there! You are under arrest for... at LEAST 13 counts of homicide! Come quietly!"

The suit paid his demands no mind as hissing, haunted laughter fell from the mouth like thunder during a storm, the blade being pulled from the wall and tipped so the corpse would hit the ground in such a way that it was an open target. The large sword was then thrust into the corpse again, and again, and again, and again, with no appearance of intention to stop until the body was completely destroyed.

Leon frowned a bit, took aim at the sword hand, and pulled the trigger, "I said STOP! You have the right to remain silent! Anything you say can and WILL be used against you in a court of law!"

The shot was enough force to wrench the sword from its hands and get its attention, which may or may not have been a good thing as a broken, animalistic growl came from the twisted jaw as the eyeless beast turned to give Leon its disjointed attention. Observing the cannon it gave the corpse a final kick and started backing further into the alleyway, nabbing its sword and holding it with the tip to the ground as it moved. Its business had finished here.

"Stop right there! Get OUT of the hardsuit!" He then continued with the Miranda treatment, "You have the right to an attorney! If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided FOR you. Do you understand these rights?"

If the Rogue Segway was registering the vocals of Leon at all, there was no indication as it turned, gold flashing and glinting in the headlights as it fled down the alley, looking for somewhere it could jump and get away from the perceived threat.

Leon's car pursued, of course, "You're wasting your time! I have back up coming, and if I don't get you, SOMEbody will. Surrender!" He continued to work on the assumption that there was a person inside the crazed armor, with little hope that she'd just give in, give up.

As the creature looked left and right, finding itself trapped in a dead end it couldn't been able to jump out of. Moving like a wild animal without much in the way of smarts, reacting on urges rather than human common sense. Finally, back pressed against the wall, sword up again, Neither advancing nor retreating as it had already figured there was no where to go. It screamed at him, angry, something akin to slobber rolling off those jaws as it only just started to dawn within the shared mind that, finally, Joseph was dead and out of the picture.

"Get OUT of the armor, NOW!" Leon didn't leave the perceived safety of his car. He had no intention of doing so, even though he realized she could cut through the vehicle easily. Having her cornered, he slipped the car into reverse. He wanted to capture her, but not badly enough to get killed doing it.

The Segway lunged forward suddenly, sword raised as its hate fueled mind started to settle down with Joseph's death, the combat intelligence fed by even the lightest anger not wanting to be put to sleep within the metals once again. The woman inside may have been a hard jerk to Leon in order to avoid some occurrence like this happening to him directly. Anything thought about the suit by anyone outside of Briar herself however was merely speculation, and useless information as she was trying to jump the car rather than destroy it. Escape was the new priority for the completion of its mission.

"Damn you!" Leon peeled back, trying to evade the attacking hardsuit.

Segway was starting to lose whatever had caused the change in the first place, getting more intelligent as the armor growths started to receded. The first sign being the sword detaching back to two segments and onto the arms. She very nearly landed on the hood of his car since he peeled back, missing by inches. Balance slightly lost, she toppled forward, bracing a hand on one side of the hood, and pointing a sword at him, threatening to puncture the windshield and his brain if he tried that again.

"Yeah. You do that, and then you won't just be a mass murderer, you'll he a COP-KILLER. You'll be lucky to MAKE it to trial in one piece!"

"Wouldn't be the first time." The harsh words out of a throat that wasn't built for speech. "I just wont be getting paid this time, will I." And dark laughter as the machine tried to push his car further backwards. The jaw was starting to seal even as it spoke, the beast retreating back into the shell it had been birthed from for those brief moments.

Leon pointed the hand cannon straight for her chest and yelled loudly as he pulled the trigger again, knowing it wouldn't break the armor. "I said get the fuck out of the armor and SURRENDER, goddamn it!"

The suit was forced back somewhat though even as it was still changing, so balance wasn't on her side right now. She looked up at him again, clenching her fists. "Why, so you can shoot at me? No, no, you're just a goody goody, believing in the ever corrupted system. Take back the lines, you aren't even owned by you anymore, rookie. Just a Pawn in a bigger game." She pulled herself upright as she felt the jet packs freeing from their semi-organic entrapments. "Well, I wont have any part of your game. I've got my own to play." Crouching, readying to take off.

Leon promptly aimed for her head. "Stay RIGHT there! You murdered 13 innocent people, PLUS the man in the fucking car! You call me a pawn? I'll tell you. You don't know jack SHIT about me. I don't let the law I uphold keep me from helping people. I follow the spirit of the law. But murder? And no. I don't plan to kill you. Just to arrest you."

She paused, looking up at Leon. Thirteen? Funny, she only remembered two. The first that had gotten in her way, and Joseph. Leon couldn't see her brows furrow. She hesitated, eyeing the gun. Backup was on the way though, so she couldn't just sit there and justify what she did to him, knowing full well her actions were against the law.

"Just culling the crowd, rookie. You wouldn't have much of a job without people like me around." She was changing the subject again, making herself sound worse than she was. Stories and lies to her might have been truth to him. Damnit, something was wrong. She moved her fingers while talking starting to pick up small stones. She'd have to make the trip tomorrow.

"You justify murder? You're not a criminal... you're fucking crazy! Give yourself up, and I'll testify to the fact that you're insane. They'll go easier on you."

"You can have me for as long as you want after the Foundation, rookie. I don't justify murder. I Am Murder. Segway Briar is a Suit for vengeance, nothing more. Once its over, I'm dead either way." There. She'd given him her 'last name' now. He could look up her files at ADP if he felt like it. She lunged upwards as she gripped thirteen small pebbles, going at an angle so she could impact with the walls and switch back in a climbing pattern.

"Damn it!" He cursed and took a parting shot at her, but didn't aim it as well as he did the first two shots. "And this was supposed to be my downtime. Fucking bitch." He paused, then radioed headquarters.

"Inspector McNichol here. That hardsuit? It escaped. Prepare a file for me by the time I come in tomorrow on anyone with the name "Segway" or "Blair"."

Moving through the night, she headed off for one of her hideouts for some sleep and maybe a charge off a generator or car battery. Anything. The suit didn't seem to run from batteries when it morphed like that, which caused her a bit more confusion as to how she could do so much without exhausting her batter rapidly. Strange dreams would haunt her while she carved symbols into each stone on a rock hard pallet, hidden away from the world in an old sewer system left behind by another age.

Segway would be listed with three other secret project suits that had been destroyed in a raid. There hadn't been any proof that they existed or the had been destroyed. It was more rumor than anything else, almost written off as drunken hallucinations in some cases.

Leon muttered as he drove home, "Stupid, crazy, psycho bitch. This is gonna cause a mountain of paper work." Then he paused, "And I don't know HOW many families she destroyed tonight."


	3. Miscommunication

Authors note; There is some babelfish Italian in here. For those of you who can read Italian, I'm sincerely sorry the sentence structure is so bad. If anyone would like to correct the phrases, leave a note in reviews and I'll get back to you. Translations for now are in parenthesis. Story has not been Beta'd.

---

Briar had a fairly long and sleepless night as nightmare after haunting nightmares of guns, trees and screaming faces bled under her eyelids whenever she left them closed for more than a few minutes. A few days would go by like this as she holed up in an abandoned sewer drain, broken off the rest of the system and considered useless by sometimes forgotten quakes. Above was a poor district and slum of residential that hadn't seen care for some time, even with the boomers helping with so much maitinence. She'd snag a child from time to time with promise of treats if they told her what was going on on the outside, hoping to hear of a boomer riot or something to distract the ADP before she'd move out for another kill.

Joseph was dead. Carrol and Trace were dead as well, slaughtered in the building. She only had four more to go, and plenty of hungry and money starved people to send out to look for them for her. As her hand guided a slicked cloth over the lovingly polished suit, she plotted and planned. Four more men and she could be laid to rest at last. Peace and quiet, and maybe get Roskoe's remains moved to a nice cemetery. She wasn't sure what she'd do about the other suits buried with him, or the Segway when she was through. Perhaps she'd donate her mind and the suits to the ADP, like Roskoe had once dreamed. Or simply disabled and turned to scrap, thinking that the ADP might become corrupt with such a power.

Briar took her time with cleaning her machine, frequently checking the power readouts as she changed clips and cables from one old vehicle battery to another, draining what energy she could from scrap yard junk. This manual recharge playing hell with her mind, barely stopping herself from going out and getting a quick juice up from another factory. Too many power taps could expose her however, she knew. Looking over the scratches Leon's weapon had made, she rubbed her temples and sighed.

"Stupid bitch, how could you slip up like that." Briar muttered to herself as she cleaned. Thirteen people dead, thirteen little carved rocks to take to Roskoe's grave. She didn't have enough money to take transit out to the city limits as what little she had was needed for food. Was she trying to justify murder when she and rookie had their little argument? It had been a joke that the cop hadn't found particularly funny. "One bad apple to the next." She confirmed in her mind that Rookie was one of the good guys and she was most defiantly not and never would be. Better to face the music and be a psycho killer than try and save a world that didn't appreciate it.

Before she could return to the house. However, she needed to shop for food. Radishes, bread, cheese. Tea, if she could find something cheap. Nearly forgotten lessons form training in a different life came back to her as she dressed for the streets. Rags and baggy clothes, mussing up her hair and face and avoiding as much cleanliness as possible. She needed to look like a homeless person as much as she could, rather than a strong and well fit woman capable of damage.

The memories of Tozoe Briar, however, were virtually forgotten. Very little was important to her now, who she was or had been. Only the Foundation, Roskoe, and whatever the house held was left of her shell. Things she still used and had been trained into her until they were second nature were all that were important now. Disguise, paranoia, strategy, combat, intelligence. The old haggard woman that hobbled down the street with her purse tucked away and full of her last pieces of scrip was just another form of hardsuit she looked out at the world with. For now, she was just an old lady, a squatter who was going blind and retarded. Few people bothered her and those that did tended to leave after getting a few scrip or a bit of food.

Moving through market streets and poking around behind restaurants to check for a few scraps that might've been discarded, squinted eyes of a old, shrewd woman looking for the best deals amongst stalls and storefronts, she considered how to move her suit today. She'd traveled in the daylight many times before, passing herself off as a construction or junk boomer from time to time, hanging scrap metals and random junk from her suit as she moved through less caring peoples.

She had a light limp in her step, looking somewhere between a wide range of forty and sixty, no easily defined age as parts of her looked fairly young and others looked old and wrinkled, or just short of falling off. She was no frankenstine, not to her knowledge at any rate, but moved like one and kept the hobble of an old woman who hadn't had medical attention for some time. Her hands pawed and turned over turnips to be bagged for stew and scowled at minuscule lumps of bread in her range before she'd turn to look for tea. Passing one of the greasy little fast food carhops that had found a nook in the area, she tried not to smile as she noticed a familiar car and driver.

Life had a funny kind of way of doing things, letting people pass each other, perhaps even acknowledge each other, and never really realize what was going on until much later. Briar let her smile blossom fully as she passed him and found a little jury-rigged stall that had popped up over night carrying her favorite tea. Her house would soon be smelling of rain water and cinnamon, scents that calmed the animal in her soul. The last of her coin went to the small old Asian man and they shared a little bow as she tucked the small hard papered box into her back and started to return the way she came.

The smile would fade quickly however, and her eyes would turn wary and piercingly paranoid when the officer actually noticed her this time. Not breaking character so much as allowing herself to look like she was poor enough to maybe have committed a few thefts in her time.

"Hey there! Can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Eh?" She shuffled a little closer, holding her packages to her tightly, like a fearful immigrant. She certainly had the complexion for it, her eyes holding a slightly different shape than the other people around her, her skin a little more olive, or the incline of her nose. Italian, possibly.

"Yeah, you. Come here for a second, will ya? I need to ask you a few questions." The rookie waved her over, showing no recognition of her either.

She blinked at him blankly for a moment then moved up to the side of his car, looking puzzled and a little nervous. "Si signore?" (Yes sir?)

Briar allowed herself an inward smile as Rookie seemed to be caught off-guard for a moment before repeating his questions in both English and Japanese. She'd have to rub this in his face later, if he ever did managed to catch her.

"Well, it seems this place is the center of some very nasty incidents involving a rogue boomer. Have you seen anything unusual at all?"

"Il diavolo ed il suo gregge hanno attraversato ieri. Alcoolici difettosi nell'aria, sì?" She said with widened eyes. Ordinarily whatever he said wouldn't have made much sense to someone who hadn't picked up much English or Japanese, but everyone knew what Rogue Boomer was and the danger behind it. ("The devil and its flock have crossed yesterday. Alcoholic defective in the air, yes?" (This was intentional gibberish.))

Rookie groaned a bit and shook his head. "Nevermind. Forget it. I don't speak Italian. I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Non ho pensato così. Quello era il punto realmente. Relativo uno shame non state registrando." She nodded to him then gave him little bow and moved away from the man who wasn't going to arrest her today. She couldn't help but smirk as she worked her way back home. Even if he had known Italian, he likely would've struggled with it, she was intentionally ruining the dialect just to make it harder on him if he had known. ("I have not thought therefore. That one was the point really. Relative one shame not been recording." (Gibberish was not intended. Actual sentence should read, 'I'm exactly who your looking for, It's such a shame your not recording.'))

Once home, she promptly put a pot of water on a small portable stove she'd reworked from scrap pieces and bartered trades, and made herself a slim meal. A slice of bread, warmed by the steam from the pot, a few slices of radish and long saved sweets. When the water came to a boil, she dropped in some of her freshly bough tea and began to climb into her freshly charged suit. Collecting the carved pebbles into a small satchel that sat on her hip, along with some flowers from weeds outside her home. Provided everything went smoothly, she could get her things done at Roskoe's cement grave and be back home in time for a good pot of tea.

From her pile of rags and disguises, she pulled a few sets of long, swaddling black clothes, working quickly to wrap them around her suit and working to cover up herself as much as possible. While people weren't exactly free in Neo-Tokyo when it came to Work and play, she had a little leeway with religion. If the ADP were out looking for hard suits and boomers, she'd go out disguised as a tallish Arab woman, and few would likely bother her if any. She'd used the disguise plenty of times before, so the locals had gotten used to the occasionally figure in black stalking through the streets on one task or another.

Head bowed to keep glare of the sunlight from filtering through the thin scarves and veil wrapped around her head and glinting off the visor, she moved fairly easily through the streets, enough padding from the clothes that the poor people of the streets jostling along beside her wouldn't notice much if anything unusual. Using her knowledge gained from her time with the forces of both good and evil, she was able to slip by scanners that would alert anyone to her presence, dodge human police and lifescan boomers. She knew enough of the sabers to have a few paths to make her progress quicker, tapping into ancient information of when satellites would be switching orbit to scan a new lane or security cameras pointing at an angle she could take advantage of. No security system was perfect, and knowing holes was what really counted when one was a criminal on the run. It wasn't as fast as a night of flea hopping over the rooftops, but it got the job done.

Once she got out of the city limits however, she made a few long, low jumps until she could pull off her disguise and stash it in a bush. Clothes over the armor made for bad aerodynamics, and all that walking had built up plenty of energy to allow her to skip under the radar and make her way across the countryside relatively quickly at little cost. Now and then she'd stop and flatten herself to the ground, scanning around to see if she was being followed or if the occasional villager or farmer outside the city had noticed her.

When she landed about a hundred yards away from the large, low home, she stopped for a moment and took in the sights around her. She'd been in such a rush to leave the place that she'd never really gotten to enjoy the place until she'd left it for too long. Once it had been the headquarters and orphanage for the innocent children they pulled under with them. Before that, rented by other families from private owners, traceable all the way back to her parents.

She shook her head, dispelling the thoughts of those who haunted the halls and its many rooms, she pushed open the patio doors as she'd done on her last visit, and muttered apologies to the walls for not taking off her shoes and coat. Treading lightly, she moved along the walls until she found the trap door once again and was soon kneeling once again by the concrete slab, counting down the stones in the dark.

Bowing her head and placing her hands against the wall, Briar got to thinking about her next strike. Yoshijo, she decided, would be the most important to the remaining members. He was already avoiding the police, so she was less likely to encounter problems with them as she took him down in his own territory. He'd been a recruiter and a thug last she'd heard of him, pulling kids off the street or out of their own homes, claiming they were given up by their parents to pay for their debts. Honor above grief and silent suffering kept most people quiet and kneeling at the man's feet, and thugs to back him up with threat of torture kept people from running off and telling stories. People were still disappearing every day for various reasons, and Yoshijo could probably be found at the root of many of the disappearances.

She leaned back and regarded the bones in the wall, regarding Segway's scan of the concrete block's contents. At least with Joseph down, their private funding would be substantially reduced. "Three down, four to go, Roskoe. I'll take Tedd down last, then turn myself in with a formal request you get somewhere real to rest and the suits go where they need to be. I think I'll have them dismantle Segway, it's too dangerous to keep around."

A hand brushed over the wall where Roskoe's skull was lodged, then patted it lightly. He'd been so young, so bright and willing to learn. He really had a future in this world. And they'd buried him in cement for trying to do something for someone outside of the foundation.

Briar carved Joseph's name into the concrete with the tip of her armblade and crossed it out before carving Yoshiro underneath. Giving the scan one more look over, she turned and slid out of the underground compartment, back up into the hall, and let the trap door fall shut behind her with a soft click. Moving back out on the patio, she took a moments pause and decided the tea could wait a little longer and sat on the edge of the wooden structure.

She unsealed Segway and pushed the chest armor off just a bit, letting in the cool country air and a slit of warm sunlight, a hand pulling up her visor half way so she could look around with her own human eyes. She took in the scents of home, both of the old wood of the house and the green grasses and bushes nearby. The lawns that hadn't been cut and distant fruits and nectars from other farms further away. Sights and sounds from a childhood she'd been so eager to abandoned once her parents died, and moved into the big city with the money made off selling the house. The same house she had buried her only friend for as long as she could remember.

"Just a little longer, Roskoe." The words slipping like a soft mantra over her lips as she gazed out over the horizon.

---

It was a long, long morning of paperwork, just as Leon expected it would be. Fun, fun, fun! He managed to fill in the details and pawn the hard stuff off on Nene for a quick bribe, though. Daily was still on his vacation, so it was another day of patrolling on his own to look forward to. As soon as he got to his car with the things he needed for the day, he pulled up the transceiver from the radio.

"Hey, HQ. If that rogue hardsuit pops up anywhere, let me know, all right?"

"It's your case, Detective. We'll let you know." Crackled back over the speakers before settling into a comfortable static of a happily quiet morning.

He made his way through the city. Visiting first upon the scene of Segway's first attack, then to the factory where he'd encountered her and finally, to the place she'd killed Joseph. Taking in the sights, the details, and a few claims from nearby locals, but he couldn't make anything add up.

"It doesn't make sense." Leon muttered to himself, tapping his thumbs against the steering wheel in his irritation, both with the case and traffic he was momentarily caught in. "There's a connection between something here. But what? Is she a Genom operative?" He paused a moment and frowned a little. "Why am I assuming it's a she? For all I know, it could be a boomer in that hardsuit. Next time I see her, I'm gonna find some place to stick a tracer."

His stomach growling at him angrily for having nothing but doughnuts for breakfast in leeway of getting his paperwork done, he decided to take a break from the search and pulled into a little Carhop type restaurant, ordering a burger and some chili cheese fries. Yeah, like Leon was really that self conscious about health or the hazards of where he might've been eating.

Life had a kind of funny way of dealing the cards to a player of its game. Sometimes you got the high cards, and sometimes you got nothing worthwhile. Leon's eyes weren't really focused as an old ragged looking woman hobbled across the walk in front of his car on some errand or another, and he paid her little attention. The whole incident seemed wrong, like that case with the car that'd had gone insane. Revenge was never a pretty sight. He hated it in all its guises.

"I just wish I knew where to look for her."

He took another bite out of his burger as he watched the woman shop for something, then start her way back. His mind idly making up a story about who she was and where she came from based on how she moved and walked, his trained senses working hard to pick up every detail. He wondered what Blair looked like and why he hadn't been able to find any real information on her. After a moment, he tilted his head out his window and called out to the woman.

"Hey there! Can I speak to you for a moment?" Motioning her forward with one hand and watching her go from a poor woman's joy to a suspicious squatter. He didn't even begin to wonder about her life, he'd seen plenty of her type on the streets before.

"Yeah, You. Come here for a second, will ya? I need to ask a few questions." He kept it casual, trying not to give way too much of his own thoughts with his motions, though he'd keep his badge visible.

"Si signore?" (Yes sir?)

Leon blinked at that, as it was not a common language to hear, whatever it was. She had acknowledged him though, and that's what he needed. He opted to ask her questions both in English and Japanese, trying to gauge which she would know more of.

"Well it seems this place is the center of some very nasty incidents involving a rogue boomer." Doubting she'd believe it was really a hardsuit. "Have you seen anything unusual at all?

The woman reacted with some surprise, her eyes widening and her face pulling up with fear. Something he'd said had frightened her for sure. Il diavolo ed il suo gregge hanno attraversato ieri. Alcoolici difettosi nell'aria, sì?" ( "The devil and its flock have crossed yesterday. Alcoholic defective in the air, yes?" )

Oh, man. Leon groaned softly and shook his head. He'd heard some of it before but didn't know enough to make sense of it. "Nevermind. Forget it. I dent speak Italian. I'm sorry I bothered you." Finishing off his fries with a sigh.

She blinked and nodded slightly, getting the hint. "Non ho pensato così. Quello era il punto realmente. Relativo uno shame non state registrando." ( Trans: "I have not thought therefore. That one was the point really. Relative one shame not been recording." )

He muttered to himself vaguely and called another carhop to his car. He was still a little hungry and some junk food went a long way. Ordering a banana split and a soda, he tried to open himself up and look at the case from all possible directions.

"Maybe I should investigate the victims. That should be my next move. Sounded like she's doing this for revenge." He leaned forward and started up his vehicle again, heading back for the station so he could search the files yet again. "Defiantly not going home early tonight."

Starting with the first case, he quickly found Joseph among the attendants and much of his records. Though little had been left when she'd finished there, they had enough evidence by then to recognize most of the people killed. Soon enough Leon found Joseph had been leading a meeting with several other businessmen from various companies, himself and two others listed as members of one Toscali Foundation. He skimmed most the records they had on each victim's names, not really having time to get too deep into the paperwork when there was a psychopath on the loose.

The Foundation's records were neat and almost too clean, as he looked them over. A seven man board from several companies and a few original minds trying to run a nonprofit home for the orphans and young adults who were victims of the quakes that had rocked Tokyo years before. Their mission was very clear and stated they spent all their funds and tapped all their resources on teaching language skills, basic living and job skills, and even how to be aggressive in the workplace and learn things on their own. Many of the members of the board using their own incomes and pocket money to fund the progress when donating companies had started bailing out, one by one. Just over two years before the current day, they had finally announced bankruptcy, and their land and housing was turned from poor housing and finally a condemned building. In the end, the land and the building was bought and added to the personal property to Tedd Phelpson, an American investor who'd moved to Japan and eventually the countryside under claims of better health.

"Sounds way too good to be true." Leon shook his head, some part of him expecting a smart remark from Daily before remembering he was still off. "I don't know what's going on, but I think the next thing to do is check the building. Maybe they left some records there." Normal circumstances would demand that he have a search warrant before making such a trip. Of course, the place was condemned and out of business, so who was going to stop him?

As he skimmed over the names of people they'd 'successfully helped' before bankruptcy, he blinked at a familiar name and face, Roskoe Kagowa.

"Hmmm... Hey! I remember this kid's face!" His head lifting from the folders as he gazed into nothingness, trying to pull memories from the back of his mind. "He used to run around with... That woman. Fuck if I can remember her name... Blaine? Braids? Damn... I know I know her..." He pursed his lips a moment then shook his head. He'd worry about it later, visit the kid maybe and get some insider information on the foundation.

Before he drove to to the Phelpson's residence, he took the time to sign a few more papers and requisition a K-12 for his own personal use for the day, lest the 'thing' he was investigating show up and try to give him a hard time. It cleared easily enough and he was soon on his way with one of the faster vehicles out of the entire department and protective gear stashed in his trunk. He kept his revolver and hand cannon at his fingertips as per usual and continued talking to himself while driving. There was never any good music on the radio these days.

"I can just picture what I'm gonna say, too. 'Yeah, some homicidal psychopath in a hardsuit wants to eliminate you for something you did to her. And Damned if I know what'."

Leon regarded the stately looking home amongst the reeds and bushes boredly as he pulled up the gravel drive and parked. Simple motions of getting out of the vehicle and walking up to the doorway gave him the sensations of being watched by something from the outside. Shrugging it off, he knocked on the door.

"Yes?" Asked the equally bored looking butler who answered the door.

"Yes," He replied as he pulled off his sunglasses so he could properly look the man in the eye. "I'm looking for Mr. Tedd Phelpson. His life is in grave danger."

"Preaching to the choir, sir. He's not to have visitors," The butler passed, considering Leon's bade and ADP uniform, "But I suppose I cant simply turn you away, can I."

"Well, you could, but I don't know how wise it would be. Seems someone has been looking to eliminate all the members of his former foundation board. According to the information I have, he's one of the last survivors."

The butler sighed lightly and stepped back, letting Leon in with a slight bow of his head. Once the door shut, locking itself he noticed, the butler took him away from the front hall and more towards the back of the house, into a living space with wide, lightly curtained windows, sparse but comfortable furniture, a wide screen television and a few trinkets about. "He will see you, just be careful with him, you are not the first to bring him news today."

"I'll be gentle as I can with my questions, but I'd seriously consider going into hiding. If its at all possible."

"Its on the list." The butler replied, looking past Leon, further into the room.

Following the gaze of the butler, Leon found himself looking at Tedd phelpson, or what was left of him. A doctor from what was likely a private service was making notes based on readouts of machines connected to the older looking man, swaddled by a few blankets as he reclined in a chair half tilted in the direction of the television. The man's eyes were open and blankly staring out the window in the other direction, a slim mask over his mouth and nose misting every few moments with his breaths. The doctor glanced at the officer and frowned lightly.

Leon sighed and moved beyond the doors, looking Tedd over for a moment, then turning to the doctor. "Sorry about this. I'm just doing my job, same as you. And we both have the same job, I'd guess: Trying to save this man's life. Now. Can he communicate at all?"

"Ofcourse he can. If you don't mind one word every few minutes. I wont even describe the buyer's meeting this morning." A brittle joke which he laughed at without a very pleasant tone. He was looking at Leon like another potential heart attack, or perhaps a vulture wanting a larger meal.

"Tedd? I need your help." Leon said, turning away from the doctor and leaning over the man slightly to get his attention. "I need you to tell me the real purpose of the Foundation. Can you do that for me? I only want to help you, but I need you to help me so I can help you, Understand? Its very important that you tell me."

Glancing back at the doctor a moment, he added. "Is there any chance of moving him? Preferably in secret?"

"Jobs." Came Tedd's creaky voice from behind the mask, his eyes glazed but focused on the officer and his doctor, apparently sticking to the foundation's basic story. Every breath sounded like a struggle for the man, and communication seemed to be agonizing.

The doctor just shook his head. "Not at this time. Perhaps in a few days. Too much trauma or movement now could give him a second stroke. Whatever he saw on the news yesterday was pretty bad to cause this kind of reaction. He should be back to his normal self in a few days however."

Leon nodded and pulled the doctor to the side a little, deciding to try again with Tedd when eh was feeling a little better. "He may need to be moved before then. The person who killed his former partner... She's still out there. And I think Tedd is going to be her next target. I'm almost certain of it."

"Joseph was no partner." The butler spoke from the doorway with a bit more acid to the otherwise bored tone. He stepped out of the room at this point, back to his tasks around the house.

"Briar." Tedd moaned from his makeshift bed, still gazing at the two of them.

The doctor glanced at the man and shook his head like he'd heard the name several times before but had no idea what it meant. "No doubt, officer. We're doing everything we can for him."

"all right. Try and get him moved as soon as possible. Now that I know a name, that'll help me a lot. Does the house have any security?" Leon managed to keep his voice and expression calm as his mind went nuts. BRIAR! BRIAR! He'd misheard the woman last night when she was in the hard suit. That was who the mecha kid was hanging out with. He didn't know Briar very well but... His thoughts all came to a standstill. Hadn't she been killed in the line of duty a few years ago?

"Yes sir, top of the line." The doctor smirked slightly, an almost guilty look crossing his face as though he knew more than he'd like.

"all right. If you think you'll be safe here then, I'll leave you," He glanced to Tedd and the doctor in turn. "Or should I wait here as a guard?"

"That's up tot he ADP, isn't it?" The doctor asked, lofting a brow.

"Go." Tedd struggled, his breath quickening slightly as he tried to summon up strength to communicate with the officer further. The old man seemed somewhat relieved, in fact,t hat someone would be pursuing the woman that haunted his nightmares and threatened his life every extended day she was hiding and hunting.

Leon nodded. "Before I go, are there any others Briar may want to get at before you? Is there anyone else I need to warn?" He planned to go back to the foundation and investigate a little more there. But it would help if he had an idea of what to look for.

"Yoshiro." Tedd ended the conversation with the name and closed his eyes, quickly falling to sleep. While Yoshiro had been listed as a board member, he'd disappeared before the foundation lost its money, listed as 'in the field' with no reports after a certain date. A name that the N-Police would likely have interest in for Yakuza connections if he could catch the man alive before Briar did.

A final nod and the officer left the house, getting directions to the condemned building from the butler and arriving at his final destination for the morning within a few minutes. But even before he got out of his car and let the quiet engine settle down, he felt something off. Something was wrong.

This time, he made sure to load the hand cannon before going inside the condemned building.


End file.
